Celebrate Together: Becoming Known for What We Celebrate
We believe Church needs to reimagine, redefine, and regorganize itself. Rather than a Sunday gathering or a set of strategies, we think the Church can be, and is, a living, breathing community rooted in the neighborhood.
This is what we’ve been exploring in our Change the Game Framework.
It’s an invitation to shift from the finite numbers-game of success and competition to the Infinite Game of God’s renewal, which is a way of being the Church where the goal is simply to keep playing, keep connecting, and keep growing in love.
Each step has helped us reframe the way we understand the game:
1. Naming the game
2. Defining the field
3. Setting new rules
4. Recruiting the team
5. Practicing by playing
6. Inviting others onto the field.
Now, we reach the final step: Celebrate.
It’s the heartbeat that keeps the infinite game alive.
Why Celebration Matters
The world is heavy right now. You can feel it in the air, in the headlines, and in our own parishes. For some of us, friends and neighbors are disappearing. Families are grieving. Fear and violence have moved in to the neighborhood.
As the Church, we can’t turn away from that reality.
We’re called to tell the truth about what’s broken, to stand with those who suffer, to name what’s wrong, and to join God in the slow, courageous work of justice and neighborly love.
And still, even here, something else is also true.
God’s Spirit is alive and moving. Renewal keeps breaking through—sometimes quietly, sometimes defiantly, always right alongside the ache.
Holding both is hard. But it’s holy work.
That’s what makes celebration such an act of faith.
It’s not denial. It’s defiance.
Celebration says: even here, even now, God’s renewal is not finished, and we refuse to stop noticing it.
Celebration is Revealing
If you really want to understand a person, a community, or a church, pay attention to what (and how) they celebrate.
Celebration reveals what we value most. It shows what we believe is good, beautiful, and worth giving thanks for.
In the Church, celebration isn’t just an afterthought or an event tacked on at the end. It’s part of the rhythm of renewal. It’s how we notice and name God’s presence in the ordinary.
Sure, sometimes it looks like a full-on neighborhood party (and honestly, that’s a great start). But other times, it’s as simple as pausing to say:
Look what God has done.
Look at the abundance of gifts in this room.
Look who’s with us now.
When we celebrate, we make visible the reality that God is already at work restoring, healing, and renewing the world around us.
Known by What We Celebrate
Every team that plays a game celebrates a win. Whether it’s a championship or a small victory, the act of celebrating tells the story of what matters.
It’s no different for the Church. If we’re going to be known for something, let it be for the joy we take in God’s presence and work, for the way we notice the gifts we see in others, for the way we share stories of redemption, hope, and transformation in our places.
This might look like:
Celebrating a new friendship between neighbors who once felt isolated.
Rejoicing over a shared meal that brings together people who had nothing in common but their love for the neighborhood.
Marking a moment of healing or justice that reflects God’s Kin-dom breaking in.
When we choose to notice and name these moments, we help one another remember and reorient us to the Infinite Game.
Celebration for Everyone
Celebration isn’t reserved for a select few; it belongs to everyone who’s playing. Pastors and parishioners, neighborhood leaders and organizers, funders and friends, young and old.
If you’ve joined in even in the smallest experiment of faith, hope, or love, then you’re part of the story worth celebrating.
Just like a team jumps for joy together after a game, we’re invited to pause and give thanks for every glimpse of renewal in our shared life.
The Practice of Celebration
So how do we cultivate this rhythm?
Notice the wins, both big and small.
Not every victory will make headlines, but every act of faithfulness counts.Tell the stories.
Share what you see God doing. Let your community hear about the good news unfolding around you. Or simply tell someone the good you see in them.Throw a party.
Gather your people. Eat, sing, laugh, and give thanks. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be real.Keep the joy alive.
Celebration isn’t just an event; it’s a posture and way of life. It keeps our hearts tender and our hope strong.
The Infinite Game Continues
Celebration reminds us that the infinite game isn’t about winning; it’s about staying in the game. It’s about joy, gratitude, and wonder that fuel us to keep showing up again and again.
And celebration does something else, too: it pulls others in. When people experience a community that knows how to name goodness, when they themselves are delighted in and celebrated, they become a part of it.
Celebration is contagious, connective, and catalyzing. Let’s keep playing that game.
Discernment Exercise: Notice · Name · Connect
Notice: What signs of renewal or hope have you seen in your neighborhood lately?
Name: Share that good news with someone else. Tell the story to others.
Connect: Gather people this week to give thanks together.
